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The History Connection - The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage)
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List Price: $15.95
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Manufacturer: Vintage
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.931
EAN: 9781400030842
ISBN: 1400030846
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 576
Publication Date: 2007-08-21
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: 2007-08-21
Studio: Vintage
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: a detailed history of Al Qaeda
Comment: This narrative traces the beginnings of modern Islamic terrorism from the idealogy of Eygptian Sayyid Qutb in the middle of the 20th century to the culmination of many of his ideas in the construction of terrorist cells and eventually the events of September 11, 2001.
Much of the book follows the characters of Qutb, Zawahari, Bin Laden and friends from their childhoods. Less time is spent on the USA's pre-9/11 counterterrorism tactics which is seen through the lens of the FBI's John O'Niel.
Many will read this book hoping to find the answer as to "Why do they hate us and want to kill us?". The answer is simple and complex and we would do well to look at it without the rhetoric of "they hate us because of our freedom" (though it may be true in some indirect sense). They do hate us because of our freedom - for example our sexual freedom which we often export to the nations that we intrude upon imperialistically. It is a paradox for the modern day multiculturalist - so insistent on, for example, women's rights or abortion access, but also so careful not to offend Muslims and respect Islamic culture.
Readers will be frustrated at how little the CIA (and less so the FBI, I gather) did to apprehend the known Al Qaeda members in the USA who perpetrated the attacks. We knew they were here and we knew they were dangerous.
Many state that killing Bin Laden will be of little use in curbing terrorism since others will fill his shoes. I believe The Looming Tower paints a different picture. Islamic terrorism is not a very coherent institution and infighting occurs constantly much to the West's benefit. Bin Laden is a uniting figure who's absence could plunge Islamin terrorists back into rival factions.
Some gripes:
-Near the end, there is a silly comparison between Islamic and Christian fundamentalists without terms being defined.
-The book stops very abruptly on 9/11 though I suppose that is to be expected from the title
-I would have liked to see more analysis on the number of Islamic terrorists and how typical Muslims view them
-I would have liked to see more effort in relaying the American perspective of terrorism ante-9/11. And more analysis on why we failed to stop it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Largely non-biased and informative
Comment: Great book with great background. However somewhat questionable on the validity on information considering his lack of intelligence experience (or a clearance for that matter). But gives the the reader the most comprehensive view of Bin Laden's inner circle and personal mindset.
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Summary: Audio Version A Little Weak, but Easier to Digest
Comment: I bought the 14-CD unabridged set. I felt that the performance was slightly short of the quality needed to tell this story. Having said that, it's an exhaustingly detailed and lengthy report of the entire arc of how terror got from then to now - so getting it perfect would have been expensive.
The benefit of the book, or recording in my case, is that it makes the motivations and internal battles within Muslim terror sects seem less vague. It's not very hard to understand.
Basically a wacko gets an idea and another wack-job listens to him and now we've got a club of idiots who believe a bunch of mixed up stuff that no one else in Islam ever believed.
Bin Ladin devotees try to convince us they'd be fine carrying on without him. I disgree with this puffery. Bin Ladin is very important to current Islamic terrorists. They'd lose a lot of mojo without him.
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Summary: should be required reading
Comment: Read this book after seeing the author on a CBS program regarding 911. I found that his telling of the of what led up to the tragic event of 911 balanced and well researched. This should be required reading for everyone as it gives insight into the psyche of the politics/religious influences in the Arab world. Many thanks to Mr. Wright for his book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This book will get under your skin
Comment: I once asked a professor what he thought about DeLillo's book Falling Man, and his response was that, "It just isn't what America needs right now."
At the time, I remember being exasperated by such a political response from a professor of liberal arts, but after reading this book, I can see what he meant. The Looming Tower is what America needs right now.
What struck me first when I opened it was how quickly I was able to read through it. Non-fiction books are often daunting, boring, heavy-handed, or badly written, but this book is proof that those don't have to be flaws of the genre.
Take a look in the back of the book at the number of books Wright went through in research, and how many people he interviewed, and you'll get a feel for why this book feels so real. Every character is portrayed in details that are fascinating and enthralling. You will probably find yourself confused at first by how sympathetically the characters in bin Laden's network are portrayed, or how darkly we see the American FBI agent John O'Niell; but the strength of this book isn't just that it's as interesting as any postmodernist novel, it's also how even-handedly the characters are reconstructed.
No decision seems to be made by the author--obviously, some people may be upset by that. But the author is not condemning anybody; that's not his job. He steps back, and gives us the information that allows us to feel like we can reproach the actors as we see fit; we may also find that the weaknesses of these sometimes uncomfortably real people are ones that we share. Our own flaws are at stake in any good piece of writing, and this book is absolutely that.
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Editorial Reviews:
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National Book Award Finalist
A Time, Newsweek, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and New York Times Book Review Best Book of the Year
A gripping narrative that spans five decades, The Looming Tower explains in unprecedented detail the growth of Islamic fundamentalism, the rise of al-Qaeda, and the intelligence failures that culminated in the attacks on the World Trade Center. Lawrence Wright re-creates firsthand the transformation of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri from incompetent and idealistic soldiers in Afghanistan to leaders of the most successful terrorist group in history. He follows FBI counterterrorism chief John O’Neill as he uncovers the emerging danger from al-Qaeda in the 1990s and struggles to track this new threat. Packed with new information and a deep historical perspective, The Looming Tower is the definitive history of the long road to September 11.
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